This past Sunday, Sikhs in Canada celebrated Bandi Chhor Divas, which means Prisoners’ Liberation Day.

The occasion is held every year to mark the freedom of the sixth master of the Sikh faith, Guru Hargobind, from prison in 1619.

Guru Hargobind was arrested and detained for standing up against tyranny inflicted by the Mogal rulers, who wanted to impose Islam on India.

Sikhism, since the time of its foundation being laid by Guru Nanak, teaches its followers to challenge power and stand up against repression. As part of that mandate, the Sikh Gurus continued to fight oppression.

Earlier, Guru Hargobind’s father and the fifth master of the Sikh religion, Guru Arjan Dev, was executed by authorities for similar reasons. 

Following mediation by those who understood that Guru Hargobind was a spiritual leader with a massive following, he was released. He ensured that 52 royal prisoners detained in the same jail should also be liberated.

So, the event became significant not only because of his release, but also due to the release of all political prisoners.

Recognizing the importance of Bandi Chhor Divas, which coincides with the Hindu festival of lights known as Diwali, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. premier John Horgan issued greetings to the Sikh community. 

While it's laudable that the two leaders care for diversity and have tried to take different cultures into their embrace, their silence over ongoing state violence in India is highly problematic.

This year’s Bandi Chhor Divas came with the backdrop of a crackdown in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

In the name of peace and security, Indian forces have detained thousands of Kashmiris. The whole disputed territory has been turned into an open jail.

Indian authorities claim that this is necessary to deal with armed insurgents who have been fighting for the right to self-determination.

However, the real intentions of the right-wing Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi is to polarize the Hindu majority against a minority Muslim community in the country but which outnumbers Hindus in the Kashmir region.

https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1188540270213763074

The state of Kashmir has been turned into heavily militarized territory since August 5. There have been protests all over the world, including Canada, yet Canadian leaders of the country and various provinces have remained silent and indifferent.

Though federal New Democrats have made a strong statement, the B.C. NDP and Trudeau’s cabinets have remained neutral.  

Notably, a vigil was held in Surrey on October 27. But no elected officials showed up.

This is despite the fact that it’s a South Asian issue and Surrey has no dearth of South Asian MPs and MLAs.

Even Surrey Centre Liberal MP Randeep Singh Sarai, in whose riding the vigil was held, was conspicuous by his absence. The only political activist who came and spoke passionately was Annie Ohana, who recently ran as an NDP candidate in Fleetwood-Port Kells.

https://twitter.com/jjhorgan/status/1188505572720537600

None of the MPs from Trudeau’s Liberal Party joined the vigil. Likewise, none of the South Asia MLAs from Horgan’s NDP was present.

Politicians did not even find it necessary to send a message of solidarity to the organizers. 

Officials at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple serving Surrey and Delta were busy because of prayers and festivities at gurdwara and couldn’t make it. But they spread the word about the vigil and lent a sound system to the organizers.

The temple president, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, made a personal appeal to the Sikh community to go and join the protesters.

He has participated in several other rallies held for Kashmir during recent months. If a temple president and his associates can be so considerate, why can’t our MPs and MLAs?

Trudeau and Horgan should know that they are heading minority governments and shouldn’t be taking the support of progressive voters for granted. 

Apparently, Trudeau's team has not learned anything from the recent election results.

They lost their majority in the House nearly two weeks ago, but they are still not getting it.

Simply recognizing Bandi Chhor Divas won’t do. If you cannot speak up for the people of Kashmir or other political prisoners, then these greetings mean nothing.

The issue isn’t just confined to Kashmir.

The case of disabled Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba, who is being incarcerated under inhuman conditions for standing up for oppressed groups and religious minorities in India, has also been ignored by the Trudeau government.\

This is in spite of many protests on the academic's behalf in Canada and calls by UN experts for his freedom.

Then there are political prisoners who are fighting for freedom in Palestine and people fighting for democracy in China.

Canada has also remained silent on these issues. It is better that these two leaders walk the talk rather than making such tokenistic statements.